Chapter 40

Sun Zhuo Er was very annoyed.

In the midst of his headache, he received a message from Yue Fu Tu, telling him to quickly put away his most precious things, as someone was about to come to ask for favors. He had to interrupt what he was doing and rushed back to Wen Tian Gate.

Li Qing had already met with several others along with Dong Xia, and waited for him for a while outside Sun Zhuo Er’s cave dwelling.

Sun Zhuo Er slowly landed, his expression cold and harsh as he swept his gaze over Dong Xia’s face, before nodding slightly at Li Qing: “You’re here.”

“Master,” Li Qing’s conversation with Sun Zhuo Er was unusually flat and distant, “This is Dong Xia.”

Sun Zhuo Er had seen Dong Xia before, but their last meeting wasn’t pleasant, and this mortal didn’t remember it anyway, so he put it out of his mind.

Just as Sun Zhuo Er was considering what kind of greeting gift to give, he saw the girl beside Li Qing suddenly timidly grab Li Qing’s sleeve and hide behind him, as if scared, hiding her face behind Li Qing.

Sun Zhuo Er frowned, and the words he had prepared to scold this mortal girl could no longer be spoken.

He finally chose a greeting gift in his mind and took it out to give directly to Li Qing.

Sun Zhuo Er didn’t know that Li Qing’s body was even stiffer than his.

Dong Xia was almost pressed against his back, her body temperature quickly seeping through his clothes, like a spreading acute disease.

“Thank you, Master.” Li Qing put away the greeting gift given by Sun Zhuo Er, watching as Sun Zhuo Er seemed to hurriedly enter the cave dwelling.

Then Li Qing didn’t move for a long time, because Dong Xia didn’t move.

After an unknown amount of time, Dong Xia let out a light snicker: “Your relationship with your master is not as good as with Yue Fu Tu.” After saying this, she finally let go of Li Qing’s sleeve and stepped back half a step.

“Master hasn’t guided my cultivation for a long time,” Li Qing said, feeling relieved but at the same time filled with greater disappointment and unwillingness.

“Indeed,” Dong Xia swayed her wine gourd, “As your master, his cultivation was quickly surpassed by you.” Just like Dong Xia, after cultivating for a while, there was no one who could teach her anymore.

“Do you think Sun…” Dong Xia paused, still unable to remember Sun Zhuo Er’s name, “Your master might be unwilling? Being the sect leader of Wen Tian Gate, yet being overshadowed by Yue Fu Tu and you, these two mountains, all his life?”

“Master wouldn’t,” Li Qing said.

Dong Xia smiled strangely: “You’re not him, how do you know he wouldn’t?” She had just found her demonic energy on Sun Zhuo Er.

— Sun Zhuo Er was the one who received the White Cloud Sect leader’s plea for help that night and ambushed Dong Xia.

Everything happened so fast at that time, Dong Xia wasn’t even sure if Sun Zhuo Er had clearly seen her face.

So she naturally used Li Qing as a shield.

But if Sun Zhuo Er wanted to act, he would definitely act.

The dignified sect leader of the number one sect in the immortal realm, actually getting involved in the furnace trade, Sun Zhuo Er couldn’t bear this burden.

Dong Xia asked Li Qing with interest: “I’m now in the heart of Wen Tian Gate. If someone discovers who I am and wants to kill me, what will you do?”

“You won’t be in danger,” Li Qing promised firmly.

“Just don’t forget in the future,” Dong Xia said carelessly.

But she didn’t really take Li Qing’s words to heart.

Li Qing wasn’t as trustworthy in her heart as Yin Fu Guang.

After making the rounds of all the capable people in Wen Tian Gate to ask for favors, Dong Xia finally let these pitiful immortal sect elders off the hook.

Her eyes were sharp, and with one move, she took the best things from their hands. With Li Qing there, who would refuse her demands?

This joy was almost the same as personally raiding Wen Tian Gate and leaving in style.

Dong Xia looked at the array of magical tools spread out, and sent a message to Bai Ze Yue right in front of Li Qing.

She told Bai Ze Yue to find Ye Ming Yu.

Or at this time… still Twenty-three.

Li Qing watched her actions and effortlessly concluded: “You’ve found that person.”

“Yes,” Dong Xia hooked the corner of her mouth mischievously at him, “The one I want to kill is a high-ranking person in Wen Tian Gate. That night, when the old thief from White Cloud Sect sent a message for help, someone ambushed me from behind, and I injured him too. I recognized him as soon as I saw him.”

If it weren’t for the magical tool fragments Bai Ze Yue had given her earlier to block it, Dong Xia would have been even more severely injured.

The dignified sect leader of Wen Tian Gate, his sneak attack skills were quite refined.

The fragments that finally shattered to dust after this strike also allowed Dong Xia to remember more of her past memories due to this misfortune, in the collision and shock between demonic energy and true energy.

— For example, the memories of how Li Qing had planned to meet and interact with her when she had lost her memory, which she couldn’t recall clearly before.

“If he’s truly evil, you can deal with him as you see fit,” Li Qing said.

Dong Xia awoke from her memories and glanced at his clear and tranquil face.

This was indeed Li Qing’s way, he never tolerated evil and was especially merciless towards demonic cultivators.

But Li Qing was no longer the Li Qing of the past.

Dong Xia sneered as she touched the golden array marks on her arm.

The Seal of Absolute Sealing had sealed her cultivation and memories, but her appearance and voice were adjusted and deceived others through this.

In the few days since Dong Xia regained her memories, she hadn’t found a way to unlock it.

Speaking of the array marks on her arm, one couldn’t help but mention the chain Li Qing used to tie her.

If it were a demonic cultivator doing this, it would be fine, but coming from Li Qing, it immediately caused horror.

Dong Xia herself couldn’t have imagined Li Qing would do such a thing.

Just recalling the incredibility of that moment now made Dong Xia’s teeth itch.

But undeniably… Li Qing’s inferior scheme was effective.

Dong Xia could spot Li Qing at a glance on the street before, and the amnesiac her would also be moved by Li Qing.

“I should thank you,” Dong Xia suddenly said, thinking of this.

Li Qing glanced at the table full of top-tier magical tools: “You used to have more.”

Dong Xia smiled, with a hint of pity in her smile: “Yes, I used to have more.”

Li Qing’s reckless and unethical pursuit of her affection, he did briefly obtain it in a fleeting glimpse.

However, while committing a terrible mistake, Li Qing didn’t actually trust that he could achieve his desire with this method.

He knew too well that everything was like flowers in a mirror and the moon in the water, even a slight ripple on the water’s surface could make him choose mutual destruction like a startled bird.

In the end, it was Li Qing himself who destroyed the affection he had barely tricked into existence with his own suspicion and doubt.

Dong Xia could still recall the feelings of complete amnesia and total trust in Li Qing.

It certainly couldn’t be called love, but it was definitely in the opposite direction of “hate”.

However, this little bit of emotion was diluted in hundreds of years of memories, and didn’t mean much to Dong Xia anymore.

She drove Li Qing out of the room, sneering at him while also feeling a bit sorry for him.

As long as she didn’t say anything, Li Qing might never know what he had missed in his entire life.

*

The door slammed shut in front of Li Qing, like Dong Xia’s merciless attitude towards him.

Li Qing looked down at his palm, gently pressed it against the door, feeling as if he was living in a dream, walking on clouds.

That was the real, complete Dong Xia.

And regardless of her purpose, Dong Xia had returned to Wen Tian Gate with him.

Li Qing leaned against the door and laughed softly, but the smile quickly disappeared from the corners of his mouth.

This didn’t mean anything, Li Qing knew that all too well.

He left protection and warning arrays in front of Dong Xia’s door, turned and left the cave dwelling, rushing to another place.

When Yin Fu Guang saw Li Qing, his expression was a bit helpless, but he still obediently bowed: “Immortal Lord, how much longer will this person be imprisoned?”

“Until today,” Li Qing brushed past Yin Fu Guang, heading towards a hidden cage.

Li Qing had lied to Dong Xia.

He hadn’t immediately killed the White Cloud Sect leader that night.

After the incident at the celebration banquet that night, Li Qing had of course thought about it, but after careful consideration, he immediately realized that everything that happened that night wasn’t simple.

Dong Xia obviously hadn’t just regained her memories that night, she had just hidden the fact that she had regained her memories.

Then Dong Xia must have had some plan, and the most likely target was his heart blood.

— Then why did Dong Xia expose her identity that night, without any warning?

Was killing a White Cloud Sect leader so important?

Li Qing had Yin Fu Guang secretly imprison the half-dead White Cloud Sect leader, in case of need.

And today, he finally heard a partial truth about that night from Dong Xia’s mouth.

Just dots and lines were enough for Li Qing to deduce the general situation.

He blocked Yin Fu Guang, who was eager to follow, outside the prison, and walked alone towards the White Cloud Sect leader who was lying on the ground like a puddle of mud.

Yin Fu Guang was rumored to be one of Dong Xia’s men, and Li Qing didn’t want him to know anything related to Dong Xia.

— Let Yin Fu Guang one-sidedly believe that Dong Xia was just a demoness’s body double.

Li Qing’s footsteps stopped outside the cage, he stared at the old man on the ground.

Only the old man’s faint chest movements could prove he was still alive.

Li Qing knew that privately imprisoning a criminal wasn’t something he should do, but knowing that the other party was one of the culprits who hurt Dong Xia, Li Qing felt the other party deserved any cruel torture in the world.

He crouched down to look at the old man’s face: “If given a chance, who in Wen Tian Gate would you seek to save you?”

The White Cloud Sect leader kept his eyes tightly shut, as if he had fallen into a state of confusion and hadn’t heard Li Qing’s words.

“That night you sought someone to help you,” Li Qing patiently asked slowly, “I know it was someone from Wen Tian Gate, who was it?”

The White Cloud Sect leader’s facial skin trembled slightly, then his whole face slowly twisted into a strange smile of mockery.

He made a terrifying “ho ho” sound from his throat, and squeezed out a few words like air leaking: “What… do you… know?”

It wasn’t a question, but extreme sarcasm.

It was a “you know nothing”.

Li Qing didn’t get angry, he didn’t even move an eyebrow.

Apart from matters concerning Dong Xia, few things could make him show the slightest emotion anymore.

“I know it must be someone of high rank and authority,” he said, “Next, I will call out thirteen names. When you hear that name, say ‘yes’.”

The White Cloud Sect leader laboriously rolled his eyes to show disdain.

“Or, I will hand you over to Bai Ze Yue,” Li Qing said calmly.

The White Cloud Sect leader finally opened his eyes wide, staring at Li Qing in disbelief, unable to imagine that this was something he could say.

Li Qing just looked at him impassively with dark eyes: “Have I explained clearly?”

In the silent prison cell, almost no sound could be heard, a silence more terrifying than death.

After a moment, Li Qing’s voice sounded again: “Yue Fu Tu, Chen Li Xiao…”